America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFV) is ABC’s all-time longest running comedy series. Its 16-year run is longer than Bewitched, Happy Days, Home Improvement, Roseanne, The Wonder Years, Three’s Company and every other ABC comedy you can think of. That’s 16 years of children flying off playground equipment, brides falling into cakes, teens with trucker hats lighting their body parts on fire and, everybody’s favorite, guys getting hit in the groin with a plethora of blunt garden tools.
In celebration of this longevity, and possibly because someone alerted ABC that not everyone in America has a PAX network affiliate (PAX, the all AFV, all the time network!) in their town, Shout! Factory has released America’s Funniest Home Videos Volume 1.
For those unfamiliar with the show, here’s a quick synopsis. Each one-hour episode is made up of a collection of funny video clips that are submitted by the show’s American audience. The clips’ subject matter varies, but the most common topics include babies doing cute or disgusting baby things, painful or amazing feats at sporting events, wedding disasters and, of course, getting hit in the groin. In fact, the 300th episode features a special segment entitled “Greatest Groin Hits” where viewers were invited to vote on their favorite crotch shot over the Internet (Thank you, Al Gore!).
To make each episode show a little more interesting, three clips are chosen to compete for a cash prize. How they are chosen, I don’t understand, but it appears to be at random. The “finalists” for the cash prize are announced toward the end of the episode. The studio audience then votes for their favorite and, finally, the winners are interviewed. So it’s kind of a game show, too.
This four-DVD set features the award-winning reality comedy’s 11th season, which was the first season for host Tom Bergeron of Hollywood Squares and Dancing with the Stars fame. The collection includes 12 full episodes on three discs and a bonus disc containing AFV’s 300th show in two episodes. All told, that’s over nine hours of entertainment.
Article comments
1 - Jones Violet
I can't believe that's the longest running comedy series! Are there any shows, that you know of, that tie for the sixteen years?
I wonder how many groin hits you have to watch until it isn't funny anymore.
2 - Joe Battista
The Simpsons has a current run of 16 years. I prefer The Simpsons.
3 - Damion Rutherford
sweet
4 - Bob A. Booey
My parents, both immigrants to this country, love this show. All foreign-born people love this show.
All old people and kids also seem to love this show.
All Republicans seem to love this show.
What do they all have in common? They seem to love watching cats dancing and people getting hit in the crotch by baseball bats. It's low physical comedy without the gross-out scatalogical humor.
They fancy it family-friendly TV, but it's schadenfreude (delighting in the suffering of others). It's cruelty with a ribbon of innocence and sweetness tied around it.
That is all.
5 - lucy
my dog is so funny that i can bely lafe
6 - lucy
i love afv
7 - angry dog lover
10 thumbs down for AFV! They repeatedly show animal cruelty out of pure ignorance and rating quest. Only trailer trash would find this humor entertaining.
8 - lola
They don't show dog fights or abuse. Just animals being animals. Funny and Cute. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Get a life>
9 - AFV viewer
Having special guest co-hosts opinions is annoying. Taking focus away from the live audiences.
Bring back the host from Full House.